| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: lil' piece fo' lagniappe fo' madame's lil' bebe. Ah, c'est bon!
"Pralines, pralines, so fresh, so fine! M'sieu would lak' some
fo' he's lil' gal' at home? Mais non, what's dat you say? She's
daid! Ah, m'sieu, 'tis my lil' gal what died long year ago.
Misere, misere!
"Here come dat lazy Indien squaw. What she good fo', anyhow? She
jes' sit lak dat in de French Market an' sell her file, an'
sleep, sleep, sleep, lak' so in he's blanket. Hey, dere, you,
Tonita, how goes you' beezness?
"Pralines, pralines! Holy Father, you give me dat blessin' sho'?
Tak' one, I know you lak dat w'ite one. It tas' good, I know,
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: materials in compiling a general history of printing cannot be denied,
but the destruction of many rare books was the result, and more than
counter-balanced any benefit bibliographers will ever receive from them.
When here and there throughout those volumes you meet with titles
of books now either unknown entirely, or of the greatest rarity;
when you find the Colophon from the end, or the "insigne typographi"
from the first leaf of a rare "fifteener," pasted down with dozens of others,
varying in value, you cannot bless the memory of the antiquarian shoemaker,
John Bagford. His portrait, a half-length, painted by Howard, was engraved
by Vertue, and re-engraved for the Bibliographical Decameron.
A bad example often finds imitators, and every season there crop up
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: the direct assailants of the very principle of the government.
The greatest proof of the ability of the American
legislators is, that they clearly discerned this truth, and that
they had the courage to act up to it. They conceived that a
certain authority above the body of the people was necessary,
which should enjoy a degree of independence, without, however,
being entirely beyond the popular control; an authority which
would be forced to comply with the permanent determinations of
the majority, but which would be able to resist its caprices, and
to refuse its most dangerous demands. To this end they centred
the whole executive power of the nation in a single arm; they
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